Fastest Citizenship by Investment Programs 2023

Citizenship by investment programs have become enormously popular and as more applications are received for processing, the processing times have become slow. In 2023, the average time to receive a passport from the time of submitting application for all CBI programs is 3-4 months.

1. Vanuatu has the fastest citizenship by investment program in the World  processing times for approvals issued in 30 days.
2. St Kitts & Nevis has the second fastest citizenship by investment program with approval times 120 days plus all the documents in order under application process which takes application approvals in 120 days.
3. Saint Lucia has the third fastest CIP with processing times taking only 60-70 days for approvals.

In general, the Caribbean citizenship by investment schemes are usually the fastest. The European citizenship schemes are the slowest of all takes no less than a year to receive a passport. All applications go through several layers of security checks before any decision is issued. Failing these checks, can delay processing times later citizenship is denied.

We list CBI schemes below fastest to slowest, that is time taken to application stage to receiving passport. At the moment Vanuatu has the fastest processing times for citizenship by investment applications.   There is also a possibility for stateless to become a citizen and acquire passports through the investment schemes. These are the fastest countries to become a world citizen through citizenship by investment schemes. With the exception of  Malta, Turkey require personal visit to complete the citizenship process which can add to the length of processing, all other countries do not require a physical visit.

Please note processing times for citizenship and passport times are different.

• Citizenship Processing time is the time required for approval of CBI application (60-90 days)
• Passport processing the time take to issue passport after CBI approval issued (2-3 weeks)

The total time is calculated adding processing times and passport time.

1. Vanuatu

• Price: $130,000  Donation – DSP/VCP schemes
• Real Estate: $200,000 (approved projects)
• Residence requirement: NO
• Visit to the country: NO
• Due diligence check: 3 weeks
• Citizenship approval: 30 days
• Passport time: 40 days
• Oath: YES
• Passport validity: 10 years
• Visa free: No UK/No schengen

2. St Kitts & Nevis

• Price: $250,000  SGF Donation Limited Time Offer)
• Real Estate: $400,000 (buyback shares (hotel/resorts)) or $400,000 (private villas/resorts)
• Residence requirement: NO
• Visit to the country: NO
• Due diligence check: 1 month
• Citizenship approval: 60 days (accelerated) and 90 days (normal processing)
• Passport time: 120 days
• Passport validity: 10 years
• Oath: NOT required
• Visa free: Schengen/UK/Russia

3. St Lucia

• Price: $100,000  Donation to Govt fund
• Government Bonds – $300,000 (refunded after 6 years)
• Real Estate: $200,000 (hotel/resorts)
• Residence requirement: NO
• Visit to the country: NO
• Due diligence check: 2 months
• Citizenship approval: 60-70 days
• Passport time: 3 months
• Oath: YES
• Passport Validity: 5 years
• Visa free: Schengen/UK

4. Dominica

• Price: $100,000  EDF Govt Donation
• Real Estate: $200,000 (hotel/resorts)
• Residence requirement: NO
• Visit to the country: NO
• Due diligence check: 1 month
• Oath: YES
• Citizenship approval: 2 months
• Passport time: 3 months
• Passport validity: 10 years
• Visa free: Schengen/Russia/China (No UK)

5. Antigua & Barbuda

• Price: $100,000 Donation
• Real Estate: $200,000
• Residence requirement: 5 days (only renewing passport)
• Visit to the country: NO
• Due diligence check: 1 month
• Citizenship approval: 2 months
• Oath: YES
• Passport time: 3 months
• Passport validity: 5 years
• Visa free: Schengen/UK/Russia

6. Grenada

• Price: $150,000 Donation
• Real Estate: $220,000
• Residence requirement: NO
• Visit to the country: NO
• Due diligence check: 1 month
• Citizenship approval: 2 months
• Oath: YES
• Passport time: 3 months
• Passport validity: 10 years
• Visa free: Schengen/UK/Russia/China

7. Turkey

• Price: $400,000  Real Estate / $500,000 (bank deposit)
• Residence requirement: NO
• Visit to the country: YES
• Real Estate buying time: 1 month
• Residence permit time: 1 month
• Due diligence check: < 1 month
• Citizenship approval: 2 months
• Oath: YES
• Passport time: 4 months
• Passport validity: 10 years
• Visa free: NO Schengen/ NO UK/ NO Russia

8. North Macedonia

Macedonia is the newly launched economic citizenship scheme, the processing times are very fast due to low volume of applications. This program is not active due to banking issues faced by clients applying for this program.

• Private investment fund:  €200,000 (held 2 years)
• Residence requirement: NO
• Visit to the country: YES
• Due diligence check: 1 month
• Citizenship approval: 2 months
• Quota Limit: 1000 applications only
• Passport time: 3-4 months
• Oath: YES
• Passport Validity: 10 years
• Visa free: Schengen only

9. Malta

• Price: EUR 600,000 (Donation citizenship in one year ) or EUR 750,000 (Donation for citizenship fast track in 1 year)
• Real Estate:  (optional)
• Residence requirement: 12 months / 1 year
• Visit to the country: YES
• Oath: YES
• Quota limit: 1800 applications
• Due diligence check: 2 months
• Citizenship approval: 2 months
• Passport time: 1.5 years (12 to 18 months)
• Passport validity: 10 years
• Visa free: Schengen/UK/USA/Canada/Australia

How to start?

The application process is well setup and streamlined by government. The Government appoints authorized agents giving them license to submit applications on client’s behalf. It is important to remember you ONLY make the full investment (donation or real estate) after receiving citizenship approval from the Citizenship Investment Unit (CIU).

Basic Eligibility Check

The basic eligibility and KYC checks before boarding the client.

• Must be 18 years of age for main applicant
• No criminal record (clean record) or wanted person by law enforcement.
• No visa refusal from UK, schengen or any other country.
• Siblings, children over particular age cannot apply under family. refer to the family rules

Payment steps

1. Pay agent fee and government fee to start – 5 days
2. Agent conducts initial background checks – 5 days
3. Agent collects all documents verifies and submits for citizenship approval to Government citizenship unit   – 2 days
4.  Receive citizenship approval letter. It is only issued after passing all background checks done by Govt. – 1 months
5. Pay the full investment to Government bank account.- 10 days
6. Take the Oath – 1 day
7.  Collect your passport from your agent or at embassy – 2 weeks

Invoices will be issued with every step of the payment stage.

Paperwork

The  important documents must be ready with you

• Completed application forms.(disclose everything no concealing)
• Original passport, id cards, driving license.
• No Criminal record or police certificate, refer to the PCC rules
• Birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Proof of address (utility bills) etc.
• Evidence of source of funds.

Having all necessary documents in  proper order, is the key to receive fastest citizenship approvals. It is advisable to plan all well 2 months in advance. The most important documents are original passport (must not expire), police certificate, medical report, birth certificate and marriage certificate.

Delays

Below are the main reasons for delays in citizenship decision.

• Missing documents are the No.1 reason for long delays.
• Incorrect data or omission of information.
• Documents must not expire (eg. police certificate 6 months, medical reports 3 months)
• Donation option are much faster than the real estate investment atleast by a month
• Document legalization or apostille process in birth certificates, marriage and police certificates also a culprit taking lot of time.
• Translations are also required if documents are not in english language.

Please reach us out for a free consultation.